PSX Daily Market Review - 19th Feb. 2018

Trading volume at PSX floor dropped by 71.12 million shares or 32.41% on DoD basis during last trading session, whereas the benchmark KSE100 Index opened at 42916.87, posted a day high of 43691.28 and a day low of 42916.87 during last trading session. The session suspended at 43627.10 with net change of 684.75 and net trading volume of 63.84 million shares. Daily trading volume of KSE100 listed companies dropped by 20.01 million shares or 23.86% on DoD basis.
Foreign Investors remained in net buying position of 0.81 million shares but net value of Foreign Inflow dropped by 0.6 million US Dollars. Categorically, Foreign Corporate and Overseas Pakistani Investors remained in net buying positions of 0.24 and 0.57 million shares. While on the other side Local Individuals, Companies, NBFCs and Brokers remained in net selling positions of 2.19, 6.07, 1.19 and 0.5 million shares respectively but Local Banks, Mutual Funds and Insurance Companies remained in net buying positions of 1.55, 3.77 and 3.76 million shares respectively.

Asian shares ticked up on Monday, joining a global recovery for equity markets as sentiment improved gradually from a recent shakeout that stemmed from fears of creeping inflation and higher borrowing costs. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent, having recovered more than 40 percent of their losses from late last month to last week’s low. Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.2 percent. Trading is expected to be slower than usual due to market holidays in the United States as well as Greater China and Mumbai.
The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) shrank for the second consecutive month posting a negative growth of 1.4 per cent year-on-year in December 2017, showed Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data released on Saturday. The negative growth in the big industry’s production is stoking fears that the country may miss the economic growth target projected for this fiscal year. It was reported that the drop in industrial production in the past two months was mainly led by delay in cane crushing particularly in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sugar production dropped by 37.4pc as compared to the same period of last year.
According to the latest figures released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), the cumulative sale of auto industry, including LCVs, Vans and Jeeps, during first seven months of fiscal year 2017-18 (7MFY18) exhibited 25 percent annual growth to 147,700 units while the sales of cars in Jan were reported as 23,562 units, up 13 percent annually and 22 percent quarterly. Experts said that the change in import procedure, demand from online ride hailing services and availability of auto finance at lower rates have contributed to strong demand in outgoing month. This is the highest monthly unit sale recorded in a Jan month.
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Standing Committee on LPG , Chairman Irfan Khokhhar on Sunday hinted at reduction in per kilogram price of LPG by Rs 15 in the first week of March 2018, thus bringing this gas price to the lowest during last four years. He told APP here that 3rd International LPG Conference being organized by all the stakeholders including Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association of Pakistan (LPG-AP) in Lahore on March 11, 2018 and the prime minister had also confirmed his participation as chief guest in the conference. He added that a number of important announcements would be made to implement the new and pending decisions of the LPG conferences.
Pakistan 's agreement under government to government arrangements with Qatar for purchase of LNG has been subject to criticism. Pundits have been trying to create an impression of the deal with Qatar as 'expensive' purchase when compared to spot market prices. The factual analysis of the data available however suggests a different story. The Sale-Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Qatar Gas, as this purchase agreement is known in the industry, has not only helped authorities to ensure domestic and industrial consumers with a consistent supply of gas but price comparison of SPA with recent spot purchases proves that Pakistan has been able to save up to $ 91.0 million (nearly Rs 10 billion) between the four month period from December to March, FY 2017-18.
Its recommended to practice caution as market is expected to remain volatile.

The Benchmark KSE100 Index have bounced back after retesting a horizontal supportive region during last trading session in its daily bearish trend channel and closed at resistant trend line of said channel. As of right now index have resistances ahead from a descending trend line along with a horizontal resistant region at 43860 and 43910. Its expected that Index would try to open with a positive gap today and if index would open above 43860 then it can hit 44474 in coming days. If index would become able to close above 43910 on hourly basis then it can move forward on intraday basis because major resistant region on hourly chart is stant at that region. Its recommended to wait for a closing above 44500 for new buying.